A Rare Arctic Land Sale Stirs Concerns in Norway
The sale of a property, across a frigid fjord from Longyearbyen, the capital of Norway’s northernmost territory, has kicked up a noisy storm.
— For anyone in the market for a majestic waterfront property with easy access to the North Pole, Ole Einar Gjerde has a deal. “We will throw in the polar bears for free,” said Mr. Gjerde, pitching the attractions of a huge tract of Arctic land two and half times bigger than Manhattan but considerably less noisy. It has a human population of zero, New York Times reports.
But the sale of the property, across a frigid fjord from Longyearbyen, the capital of Norway’s northernmost territory, has kicked up a noisy storm fed by alarm over the Arctic ambitions of a Chinese real estate tycoon with deep pockets, a yen for ice and a murky past working for the Chinese Communist Party.
Read more in New York Times.